The following relates generally to wireless communication including, for example, detection and resolution of use of a same value for a reduced version of a basic service set identifier.
Wireless communications systems are widely deployed to provide various types of communication content such as voice, video, packet data, messaging, broadcast, and so on. A wireless network, for example a wireless local area network (WLAN), may include an access point (AP) that may communicate with one or more stations (STAs) or mobile devices. The AP may be coupled to a network, such as the Internet, and may enable a mobile device to communicate via the network (or communicate with other devices coupled to the AP in a service set, e.g., a basic service set (BSS) or extended service set (ESS)). A wireless device may communicate with a network device bi-directionally. For example, in a WLAN, a STA may communicate over a wireless medium with an associated AP via downlink (DL) and reverse link (UL). From the perspective of the STA, the DL (or forward link) may refer to the communication link from the AP to the STA, and the UL (or reverse link) may refer to the communication link from the STA to the AP. In a BSS, a single AP may serve multiple STAs within a given area (e.g., the coverage area of the AP). Each BSS may be uniquely identified by a basic service set identifier (BSSID). Accordingly, a node may distinguish between communications from different BSSs by referencing the BSSID for each communication. In some cases, a wireless communication system may reduce power consumption and improve reuse by using reduced versions of BSSIDs (e.g., BSSs may use X-bit color indicators that are smaller than BSSIDs).
In some cases, the values for a reduced version of BSSIDs for two BSS are identical or indistinguishable (e.g., an AP may initially select the same X-bit color indicator as a neighbor AP). In such an instance, a STA located at the intersection of two BSSs using the same reduced version BSSID may receive communications from a BSS with which the STA is unassociated, meaning that the received communications may not actually have any relevance to the STA. Nevertheless, because the received communications include a same reduced version BSSID as a BSS with which the STA is in communication, the STA may wake up to process the transmission from the unassociated BSS even though the transmission does not include relevant data for the STA. Processing extraneous transmissions may result in unnecessary power consumption and limit system performance.